Giverny

 Judy.  The week before Ted and I took a road trip to visit the great painter Claude Monet’s home and gardens in Giverny, we visited the Musee de l’Orangerie, where his famous series of Water Lilies paintings wrap into the walls of two rooms, leaving you surrounded by water, trees, and the lilies. It was designed by Monet as a gift to the French government, who built the museum specifically for the painting, with the hopes that people would sit and meditate in peace. The building, which also houses paintings by other impressionists, was opened in 1927, when Europe was emerging from the horrors of World War I, and Monet’s idea was that it would bring peace to the hearts of those who had lived through it. Unfortunately, he died the year before it opened. 

Of course, water lilies were a favorite subject of Monet’s and this connected series of eight panels, lit with natural lighting, and completely surrounding you, truly gives a sense of peace. One room is designed as sunrise, and the next, evening. He called this series “Les Nymphéas.” 

The panel "Sunset"

I’d love to tell you that the signs requesting silence in the rooms was followed, but people are people after all. Still, as viewers moved on to the second room, or out, you can still feel the calm. The paintings are mostly dark—interestingly, Monet was almost blind when he painted them--and with one of the panels depicting sunset on the pond, it makes perfect sense. We’d heard about it for years, yet it’s listed as one of the “hidden gems” of Paris. It is well worth the visit. 

Then last week we took a road trip to Normandy, and stopped to visit the Real Thing—Giverny—Monet’s home and garden. We thought it would be a sweet one-acre plot. Oh, but no! This garden is massive, and then there’s the walk to the water garden! Taking photos there is like trying to photograph the Grand Canyon—you cannot begin to take in the depth. 

Monet spent forty years of his life creating the beds—he planned his colors years in advance, and it shows. Color is heaped on color, or maybe in another bed purple is heaped on purple, or yellow on yellow. There are dozens of trails. In full summer it must be outrageous, but even in the fall, you get a sense of the colors he used. 

The water garden consists of ponds he created from a stream that flows through the property, surrounded by trails through more greenery. His favorite seemed to be his Japanese bridge, which he painted covered in blooming wisteria. I’d love to have seen that but, alas, wisteria season was over. 

Monet spent most of the last years of his life painting the lilies and the reflection of light on his pond. He once said that he was only good for “painting and gardening.” Well, it worked, Claude. And we thank you.